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preparation of official correspondence including
naval letters, business-form letters, endorsements,
speedletters, messages, memoranda, and Navy
directives. For guidelines on official cor-
respondence and for more detailed information
on standard Navy correspondence practices, you
should review the material covered in chapter 3,
module 1, of Ship’s Serviceman 3 & 2, and you
should consult the Department of the Navy Cor-
respondence Manual, SECNAVINST 5216.5C.
Classified Information
On rare occasions, you may encounter cor-
respondence that contains classified information.
Under these conditions, be sure to consult the
Department of the Navy Information and Person-
nel Security Program Regulation (Navy Security
Manual), OPNAVINST 5510.1, for the proper
procedures governing the handling and control of
classified information. The Navy Security Manual
is supplemented by the Guide for Handling and
Control of Classified Matter, OPNAVINST
5510.40, which contains guidelines for develop-
ing uniform systems for the handling and controll-
ing of classified information.
Principles of Letter Writing
Before you can produce an effective letter, you
must give some thought to planning and organiz-
ing what you intend to say. The first step you
should take is to determine exactly what you want
your letter to accomplish. Preparing a statement
of the subject of your letter will help you to clarify
the purpose of your letter and will give you some
guidelines on what you should include and what
you should omit. Some common purposes of
naval letters are as follows:
To request permission or authorization to
act
To request that action be taken
To request information
To supply information or instructions that
were not requested
To reply to a request for permission or
authorization to take an action
To reply to a request that an action be
taken
To reply to a request for information
ORGANIZING THE LETTER.— T h e
various parts of your letter should be organized
with the reader’s viewpoint in mind. Use only the
references that are necessary and keep in mind
that addressees may not have access to certain
references. Use enclosures only if you need them
to clarify or explain the basic contents of your
letter in greater detail, Arrange the paragraphs in
a logical order. Each paragraph should discuss an
idea, or several closely related ideas, covering a
single topic, or subtopic, of the general subject.
The important things for you to remember are to
envision the body of your letter as a suc-
cession of units,
arrange the units in what seems to you to
be the most satisfactory order,
complete each unit before you move on to
the next one, and
maintain continuity by providing a tran-
sition from one unit to another.
CHOICE OF WORDS.— Use
simple
language. The best words are those that are precise
in meaning, suited to the intended reader, and are
as short, simple, and direct as possible. Avoid
using a long word merely for the sake of sounding
more important or more dignified. Usually, such
attempts will only result in your sounding preten-
tious, stuffy, and hard to understand. Not only
should you avoid using long words where short
ones would be better, but you should also avoid
using more words than you really need. Tell your
story as briefly as possible—the reader will
appreciate it.
COMPLETING THE LETTER.— Review
your draft before you type it in the smooth. Make
sure your letter tells the story with tact, simplicity,
and clarity. Make certain that sentences are
grammatically correct, and accept criticism from
your superiors as a guide for self-improvement.
When you assign a file number to your letter,
select an identification code that is appropriate
to both the purpose of the letter and the files in
your own office. Finally, ensure that the letter is
mailed to a correct address. Correct names,
addresses, and applicable ZIP Codes are con-
tained in the Standard Navy Distribution List
(SNDL), part I—“Operating Forces of the Navy”
3-20
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